Another Computer Worm

I got hit with another worm last night. My computer was moving slowly so I called up the task manager (ctrl-alt-delete) to check out the processes that were running. One process called FVProtect.exe was consuming over half of my memory resources. I checked out what it was... and what do you know, its a worm. This one is called Netsky-P, and the bastard thing had created over 5000 files on my computer.

All I can say is thank God for TrendMicro, the company that offers the free Housecall internet-based virus checker.

I need to get rid of Outlook Express. The worm propagates simply by showing up in the preview pane... nothing to click on. It doesn't do any actual damage, though it takes up a big chunk of memory and leaves you vunerable to a malicious hacker. I don't see why Microsoft can't simply patch the holes in their software, its not like the vunerabilities are a big secret. Nothing should run automatically from email... nothing. If I want a video to play, ask me first before it plays. If I want a picture to appear, ask me before it appears. Automatic is nice, but it has outlived its purpose.

Anyhow, I'll get back to real blogging once I fix this mess up.

Major Headache

I have some things I want to write about, but I can't look at a computer screen, my head is pounding. Hopefully a good night's sleep will do the trick.

As a filler, just to demonstrate that I discriminate equally against all religions, evidence that the jewish fanatics are just as bad as any other type of fanatic.

Child Abuse! Child Abuse!

Some parents put out cigarettes on the bodies of their children. Others feed them Big Macs their entire lives. Broken bones are another mainstay of the child abuse crowd.

But Walter McKelvie has put all of these abusers to shame, concoting a plan of such nastiness that he should be locked away for life... or at least the 18 months that he might get for child abuse.

Walter McKelvie Jr., 43, of Vineland, N.J., was indicted Tuesday and charged with one count of child abuse and neglect. Authorities were alerted by the boy's mother, who has custody of the child but was not with him at the beach, prosecutor Meghan Hoerner said.

So, the custodial mother (which is kinda redundant, do mothers ever not get custody?) thinks that the guy she divorced is a bad guy. And what better way to hit him than to charge him with child abuse.

Oh wait, I forgot to say what this guy did:

...was charged with child abuse for not applying enough sunblock to his mentally disabled 12-year-old for a day at the beach.

By that standard, I have spent a lot of time abusing myself.

And yet another page from the "Objective UN" file

A great photograph, I'll quote directly from the IDF website (link thanks to LGF):

Photographs taken at the Gaza Zeintun neighborhood about two weeks ago, on the same night the first APC was exploded, clearly show armed Palestinians boarding a UN-marked ambulance with a UN flag, and flee the scene.

So, not only does the UN go out of its way to regularly condemn Israel for a variety of transgressions (most notably: existing) but now it is providing transportation for Palestinian militants.

What's next, blue helmets for suicide bombers?

Followup on the UN - the objective arbitrator

A neat little chart showing the organizational structure of the Human Rights apparatus.

The best part of course can be found in the bottom right corner of the diagram. A special committee created solely to discuss the greatest human right's abuser of all time.

Blogspot Problem

Previously, a link that went to either of:

http://www.taintedglass.blogspot.com
http://taintedglass.blogspot.com

Would work and bring you to the correct site. However, it appears that the address with the "www" in front no longer works. If you click on a link, and it says "page not found" (The 404 error) and the address on top is "http://blogspot.blogger.com/" then you have almost certainly clicked on a link that points to www.taintedglass.blogspot.com

If your computer is infected with some error-catching spyware (like internet optimizer or the like), it will appear that you have failed to click through to the blog and have gone to some other random page. Click here to find out if you have some of this spyware on your computer (a Javascript program that does a quick check)

If you know of any locations with this faulty link, please give me a shout, thanks!

PS: As a bonus, for those infected with coolwebsearch, a page detailing all the variants of this insidious and nasty creature.

Curves - legal discrimination

Well, not only is the discrimination by female-only fitness clubs rampant and accepted by our hypocritical society, but in some states it now enjoys special legal protection.

That's right, not only can you discriminate against white males through affirmative action, but you now get to discriminate against them legally!

Change "male" to "black" or even "female" and see how long people tolerate such an egregious injustice.

Liberals desperately attempt to lose my vote

They have launced a series of attack ads, which insult Stephen Harper for a bit and then direct the viewers to www.StephenHarperSaid.ca.

In a nutshell, this is completely unacceptable, and I have already written a letter to the Liberal party explaining that if the aforementioned website is not taken down within a week, then they will lose my vote.

Segacs pointed out that the Conservatives have sunk to a similar low, with their own website called www.TeamMartinSaid.ca. However, if you actually go to the conservative website, they realize that this is unacceptable. The conservative website is not so much an attack ad as it is an attack on the attack ads.

The Liberals have Conservative quotations. We have Liberal quotations. We won't bother to spend millions and clutter the television airwaves with the stuff we've dug up. When we say "Demand Better," that's what we mean - Canadians are demanding better than US-style attack ads that offer nothing substantive to the public debate

Well said.

David's Fables: The Beast Within

Cindy, a young woman from Iowa, has a problem. She has been feeling very nauseous for the last few weeks. She has tried to ignore it, but it has gotten worse, so Cindy has decided that she is going to have to visit a doctor.

Cindy: "I've been feeling nauseous"
Doctor: "No problem, we have a test to find out whats going on"

The doctor fiddles and foddles around a bit, and a short time later comes back with the test results:

Doctor: "Your test came back positive. Deep inside your womb a creature is growing"
Cindy: "What will happen?"
Doctor: "Unless we stop it, it will continue to grow over the next few months. If that happens, there is a reasonable chance that it could kill you."

Cindy ponders this for a few microseconds...

Cindy: "I'm convinced, how do we get rid of this thing?"
Doctor: "Well, its not that easy, the Hippocratic Oath forbids me from killing another human being"
Cindy: Excuse me? It also says that you can't perform surgery.
Doctor: Whatever, point is I won't kill a human.
Cindy: I never asked you to kill me.
Doctor: I'm talking about the life in your womb
Cindy: Are you joking? Its not at all human, its just a bunch of cells.
Doctor: It has human DNA
Cindy: So does my skin, watch me kill a few million of those guys.

Cindy proceeds to scratch her arm a bit

Doctor (fairly nonplussed): Your skin has the same DNA as the rest of you. The life in your womb has different DNA.
Cindy: It still has mostly my DNA.
Doctor: True, but its not the same, so you don't have the right to kill it.
Cindy: But its my body, don't I have the right to decide what happens to my body?
Doctor: Of course you do, unless I disagree with your decision. I can't abide a murder, so I'm afraid that you have to let the life in your womb grow.
Cindy: But you said it might kill me
Doctor: It might, but if we balance your possible death against the certain death of the life in your womb should we kill it, well, it's a no-brainer.

Cindy, a little flabbergasted, pauses for a bit

Cindy: Screw this, I'm leaving to find a doctor who will help me.

After a little bit of internet searching (ah, the modern age of medicine) Cindy finds a clinic that will help her out. Sadly, when she goes to the clinic, she finds a bunch of protesters hanging around, waving placards, chanting slogans, and generally making asses of themselves.

Protestor: Don't go in there! Look at what you are killing!

The protestor waves a blob of fleshy mass in poor Cindy's face

Protestor#2: And look, the operation is disgusting!

This protestor has some nice colour photographs of the surgery Cindy is about to undergo. (editor's note: the picture turns out to be one of liposuction, but facts rarely get in the way of a good gross picture).

Cindy: Why can't you guys just leave me alone?
Protestor: It is our duty to stop you from doing the wrong thing
Cindy: Who the hell are you to say that what I'm doing is wrong?
Protestor: (pulls out a copy of "Hanks Words, as dictated by Karl") it says so right here.
Cindy: I don't believe in that book
Protestor: I know, that's why you are going to hell.
Cindy: I can deal with that
Protestor: But why condemn the life inside you? What wrong has it ever done?

The police finally show up and escort Cindy into the clinic. The surgery is successful and Cindy is relieved to know that she has been cured of uterine cancer.

Nine months later, a protestor shows up at Cindy's doorstep and shoots her in the head with a shotgun in retaliation for killing the life that was inside her.

(Inspired by: Kissing Hank's Ass, a Religious Satire, can be found at the bottom of the page)

Counter Fun

Bravenet, who are nice enough to provide a free counter, decided that it was too pretty, so they uglified it a bit. In return, I dumped it to the bottom of my attribution links. While I was at it, I decided to include one of the better quotes in literary history:

Naked force has settled more issues in history than any other factor. The contrary opinion 'violence never solves anything' is wishful thinking at its worst. People who forget that always pay... They pay with their lives and their freedom." - Starship Troopers

Cheesy movie perhaps (though I liked it!), but a great book and the quote is dead on.

Arab media takes the moral high ground

The arab media is fairly upset about the Berg execution:

Firstly, the beheading of Berg has eclipsed the shame and failure of the US and its allies over the Abu Ghraib scandal. Berg's self-appointed executioners appear to have been oblivious to the fact that a public relations disaster for the US' Middle East policies was a prime opportunity for the Arab and Muslim worlds to push Washington for a new, just approach to the region. Instead, they sabotaged this unique opportunity.

They eventually give the obligatory "yeah, it sucks that a civilian had to die", but I think its fairly clear what the real problem is to these people.

Well... except Hamas of course:

Osama Hamdan, Hamas' representative in Lebanon, denounced both Berg's killers and US President George W. Bush in the same breath.
"I condemn this brutal act and sympathise with the family of the slain American man, who I consider a victim of the wrong US policies in the region," Hamdan said

The other anti-American standard: equivocation. After all, humiliation and murder are just two sides of the same coin.

Next time somebody insults me in the street, I'm going to hit them with a hatchet.

Heroism: Canadian-style

Some people dive into frozen lakes to save babies, others get heart attacks in donut shops while wearing a uniform. However, I think we have found ourselves a true hero:

Terry Blake is so angry about high gas prices, he's willing to go to jail over the issue... The Port Ryerse, Ont. man filled his car at an Esso station in Simcoe with $25 worth of fuel. He paid the attendant what he considered to be "the fair price" -- $20 in cash -- and drove off.

Thats right Terry, rising crude oil prices and diminished refinery reserves have absolutely nothing to do with the pump price. Besides, it is your God-given right to have cheap gasoline, correct?

Beheading

I wasn't going to post this, but I think that censorship is a private decision, so make your own choice.

An American was beheaded, and the video was released on the internet. I don't feel like checking the arab media or left-wing blogs, the lack of condemnation is going to bother me.

Edit: The full (unedited) video. Also can be found on Salon.com

Protest Warriors Video

The latest Protest Warrior Video can be found on their website. The latest one is not as nicely polished as the last few they have made, and it is rather long (about 35 minutes, 185MB download if you want to avoid buffering delays).

At around 30 minutes there is an interesting "video diary", but unfortunately if you are streaming the video I don't think you can jump ahead to that point...

Folding Fun

Three simple steps for folding a T-shirt, and I can't duplicate what she is doing... its so frustrating!

Survivor All Stars - and the loser is....

Lex, by a mile. While I understand that some people take these type of games seriously, I have never seen someone give such a display of immaturity months after the game ended.

Anyhow, the audience gets to "vote" for another millionaire. I figure I'll vote for Shii-Ann, but as long as Rupert and Jenna don't win, I'll be happy. I would add Lex and Kathy to that list, but I'm not especially worried about either of them taking the audience prize.

God's Blog

I didn't write it, but it was amusing, I wish I could post this below my Iraq stuff though, stupid reverse order blogs.

• A religious satire (ignore the movie review on top)


• God's Blog
  

And thanks to Paul for finding it...

Petty thieves, Corrupt Cops, Oppressive Regimes

Three hypothetical situations:

1. A slightly demented man walks into a local McDonald's, takes out a gun, and kills 20 customers


2. A cop, who turns out to be a closet white supremacist, walks into a local McDonald's, takes out a gun, and kills 20 black people


3. A soldier, serving in Farofistan, walks into a local McDonald's, takes out a gun, and kills 20 customers


4. An authorized government commando team enters a local McDonald's, and, after securing the perimeter, kills 20 customers.

End result? 20 dead people in all situations.

Are all the crimes the same though? Obviously not, despite the identical consequences, all of the crimes have different meanings attached to them and require appropriate action. I would suggest that the response to the above crimes should be (respectively):

1. Take the guy, and throw him into jail for the rest of his life, preferably with some hard labour to boot


2. Take the cop, and throw him into jail for the rest of his life, preferably with some hard labour to boot. Furthermore, as a precaution, take steps to minimize the number of white supremacists on the force. Do not disband the police force.


3. Take the soldier, and throw him into jail for the rest of his life, preferably with some hard labour to boot. Furthermore, as a precaution, take steps to minimize the number of idiots in the army. Do not withdraw from Farofistan


4. A very serious problem! Do whatever you can!

What is the point of all this? Obviously it has to do with the recent revelations that some soldiers were abusing prisoners in Iraq.

The pictures being displayed in the media right now are despicable. The soldiers involved should be heavily punished, and I expect that they will be. However, neither the American leadership, nor the American public, nor the American military supports the actions of these soldiers. That is a huge point that is being overlooked, and it impacts heavily on the situation. It makes the difference between situation #3 and situation #4.

Does the public ever support atrocities? Sure, just take a look at the support Hamas gets over in the West Bank and Gaza for the atrocities it commits regularly against Israeli civilians... except of course that Hamas doesn't humiliate civilians, they just kill'em.

Context Forgery

Photographs of deceased members of the Shuttle Columbia are being portrayed as American soldiers killed in Iraq.

"Many news organizations across the country are mistakenly identifying the flag-draped caskets of the space shuttle Columbia's crew as those of war casualties from Iraq," NASA said.

We are rapidly approaching the point where a picture is not even worth half a dozen words.

Dealing with Iraq Toronto Police - Left-Wing style

Sadly, a number of Toronto area cops have been charged with a variety of crimes.

I suggest therefore that the entire concept of police working in the Toronto area is flawed, and I propose that we disband the police force and let some local drug lords take over.

Perspective

From the mouth of babes, a noble Iraqi in this case:

DHIA AL-SHWEIRI spent several stints in Baghdad's notorious Abu Ghraib prison, twice under Saddam Hussein's rule and once under American. He said in Najaf yesterday he preferred Saddam's torture to the humiliation of being stripped by his U.S. guards

Obviously they have different norms over there in Iraq. I'm not in any way trying to condone the recent actions of some renegade elements of the US military, but seriously, "the torture was better than the humiliation?".

Of course, this guy has some other problems to work out:

"They wanted us to feel as though we were women ... and this is the worst insult, to feel like a woman."

I'm sure that female Iraqis can't wait until the Americans leave and people like this guy take over the country.

Killed in the line of duty

A cover story in Toronto's daily rag proclaimed how "Ontario salutes fallen officers". There is a memorial that enshrines the memory of these brave men and women who have given their lives in the pursuit of liberty, justice...

Shrive, 49, an OPP officer in Renfrew, west of Ottawa, was killed last May. He was making a U-turn to catch a traffic violator on Hwy. 17 when his cruiser was broadsided by a transport truck.

(sigh)

Not to sound cold, but I file this under the category of "bad things happen". Some people who use cars in the course of their work tend to die in car accidents. So do thousands of people who drive to work, are they any less noble?

However, at least Shrive was nominally doing something duty-like when he got killed, not so Fred Bingley, also honoured yesterday:

On Oct. 4, 1929, a 39-year-old constable named Fred Bingley died of a fractured skull after being tossed from his motorcycle as it rounded a curve near Caledonia

Unlike Shrive, Bingley wasn't even involved in a police chase of some sort, he just happened to die while in uniform.

What is the problem with honouring people who die in accidents? Simple, it cheapens the expression "killed in the line of duty". Being a police officer is purportedly a dangerous job, and some police officers do indeed get killed while interacting with some of the least desirable elements of our society. Those police should be honoured, for they were killed while performing a valuable service to society and, more importantly, directly because they were performing this service.

A soldier who dies in battle could be said to have died in the line of duty and because of his duty. A soldier who dies because he trips and cracks his skull back in the base died in the line duty, but not because of the line of duty. These two soldiers should not be honoured in the same way.

It is the same thing with police officers. Some die because of their job, others die during their job. There's a difference.